Our outside cat (13 yrs) has recently started coming back to us for food/shelter but she has flaps of matted fur on her legs and red marks under those flaps and the vets won't see her as she is very anxious. How can we help her remove this fur and treat her skin irritation?

We've had her since a kitten and loved having her around, but once we got our dog a few years later she wouldn't stay inside, despite our best efforts. She doesn't mind being around us but she is very hard to handle. She usually goes off for weeks/months at a time and we would put out food/water but she wouldn't return. Recently she has started coming back to our house for food and shelter. We have since given her flea and worm treatments and put out food/water every night.

As the title says, our vets won't see her as she is very anxious and will scratch if you get too close, but she is still ours and we're trying to help her out, even though she has feral tendancies. The fur may be shedding as it's warming up around our area, but under the fur are red marks that we're a bit concerned about.

The plan at the moment is to calm her down a bit using chamomile treats, spend more time around her, and hopefully get close enough to remove the matted fur. Any suggestions on how to proceed from here?

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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/jcqnhn/our_outside_cat_13_yrs_has_recently_started/